'' brackets indicate the use of sign language.

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  "As compensation, Model 08-313N will be transferred from Wardress to Counters, effective immediately."

  There was a lot of shouting, though aside from Syuen's voice, I tuned it all out, resting my head in my hands. How exactly did I end up getting traded as compensation, again?

  Oh. Wait. I knew exactly what happened.

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  "You intentionally punished him," I frowned as Anderson let out a sigh.

  "I need to keep him out of the spotlight. He has potential, but he's going to make enemies the way he is going. Sending him to the Outpost keeps him under the radar," I nodded, accepting his reasoning even if I didn't like it.

  "And the information is nice, too. He's capable of some strategic forethought, using what he has to the best of his ability. It is a shame about the power plant," I began. The power plant was a write-off from the start. Useful, but the Ark had plenty of power. By my book, it was better to just deny the enemy the asset by that point.

  "It was the Rapture's behavior that was the most important," I raised my eyebrow at Anderson's words. "Yes, thanks to your encounters with Chatterbox, we know it is far more intelligent than we initially assumed. But this is the first time we've seen them trying to replicate human behaviors."

  "Is it really replication, though?" I frowned. "Raptures have to run on some sort of fuel. Electricity is just as good of an energy source as needed. This could be a case of Convergent Evolution, Boss. Two completely different things that just happen to look similar."

  "You're usually more suspicious than that, Elen," his mouth forming a thin crease. "You usually assume Raptures are more capable than not."

  "I'm just not seeing the replacement of humans as a theory. I'd need far more evidence to see that as being valid," I frowned. It didn't hold water for me, but there was simply too much we didn't know about Raptures to even guess at what they were doing. "There is too little I know for me to say anything beyond that they were engaging in creepily human-like activity."

  "Fair enough. Does that tie what else you might have?" He asked, my mouth forming into a thin line.

  "No, but it has to do with the mission that started your fascination with this man," I had run the numbers, and double-checked things front to back. "And it goes beyond Marian being corrupted while inside the Ark."

  I pause for a moment. "The Ark's location is compromised. Of course, going over the records, this is far less of a surprise than I initially thought."

  "You've been busy," Anderson was sitting upright now, seeming to be more awake than he had moments prior.

  "You gave me access to records, of course, I was going to be busy," so much reading, not enough time. "In all honesty, I think its location has been compromised from the start."

  "Think about it. Do you have any idea how much rock and soil had to be moved to make this place? The vibrations would carry in the subsurface for a considerable distance. And even if they missed the initial construction, the sound made by the Ark would carry as well, unless the area between the Ark's outer walls and the rock is soundproof," I say. "And depending on just how deep the Ark is built, all they need is a sufficiently strong Ground Penetrating Radar or other subsurface mapping tool to find the giant man-made air bubble."

  The previous attack on the Ark, well before my time in this hellhole, was the final nail in the coffin. I doubt they would just misplace the coordinates to this place. Frankly, the game was rigged from the start. But I wasn't going to ignore the fact that such raised, several, questions. And not exactly pleasant ones.

  "So if the Raptures already know where we are, and have proven to be capable of forces us to battle in the past," I paused, almost afraid to speak my thoughts aloud.

  "Why haven't they finished the job?" Anderson finished, face grim and hard, and yet, his expression looked as if he had reached the same realization that was only now dawning on me a long time ago.

  The only reason why they haven't is that they didn't want to. And why didn't they want to?

  The only reason I could conceivably think of for why they didn't just finish off the human race right here and now was one, simple, reason. Yes, it was a reason that raised many, many more questions, all of them terrifying in their own unique ways.

  It was that the Raptures real goal wasn't the extinction of humanity in the first place.

  But if it wasn't our death, then what was their true goal? Whatever it was, one thing was certain.

  I was not going to get any sleep tonight.

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  Anderson looked down at his phone. It wasn't his usual work phone, either. His eyebrow raised slightly, looking at the words that were appearing on the screen. To the untrained eye, they looked as if they were utter gibberish. To him?

  It was a message. A hastily constructed, very panicked message, but a message all the same.

  'We have a problem,' it read, as he deciphered the code the message had been put in. 'Syuen's found about the Commander you sent to the Outpost.'

  His eyes narrowed.

  'She wants to bring Counters to hunt down Chatterbox alongside Wardress,' that, was going to be a problem. 'She's forcing him with false evidence and blackmail.'

  'I have recorded the exchange,' that brought a grin to his face, even if it was grim. 'Among other things.'

  'Extraction?' He sent back. It was far from ideal, but if they needed to give Syuen a distraction and a black eye, they were in a position to do so right now.

  'Your call. Chatterbox is risky, but we haven't run into him since. There is a chance, statistically speaking, that he's a no show,' the words cut off though, and Anderson could fill in the blanks. Statistically, based on pure mathematical odds, it was unlikely. But the fact Elen had cut off like that was a tell. She had a gut feeling that this wouldn't be like other times. And while her gut feelings could oftentimes be wrong, if not outright hyperactive. This was big. 'We could also use it to give Syuen more rope, but that doesn't come without its own risks.'

  Anderson frowned. This was not part of his plan. In hindsight, it should have been obvious. Syuen was looking for disposable assets and Counters, a squad permanently assigned a Commander, who also had a former member of Absolute on their roster, would be a prime target, a possible mixture of power and something that would be overlooked.

  At least he had time to maneuver pieces on the board now thanks to the heads-up. Even if it wasn't a lot of time, there were strings he could pull. But things were unsteady. Allowing the mission to go through had considerable risks. Not without possible rewards, but the risks were bigger than the benefits. It would give him more time, and Elen more opportunities to uncover more information. And Elen had been surprisingly effective at doing that.

  They'd even managed to address the kill switch, something that was its own brand of concern. Giving Elen the freedom to act was its reward, but even he knew that simple act of kindness had a lot of effect on her. If he asked her to stay the course and take the risk, she probably would.

  'Your thoughts?' He sent.

  'We're better prepared this time. Even if it's just Wardress, it wouldn't be as much of a shitshow. With allies, it should go better in theory,' there was a pause. 'In theory. Chatterbox is strong enough that being prepared simply isn't going to be enough.

  Never mind that the preparation went both ways. Chatterbox knew what to expect now, and knew that they knew that he was aware of his capacities. It went both ways, and an exchange like that went to the stronger side. And who that side was? Was incredibly clear. If Chatterbox was willing to fight, he'd make sure to stack the deck in his favor.

  'What are the odds that the Pilgrim shows up again?'

  'About as high as Chatterbox. Though it relies on several assumptions that I wouldn't exactly feel comfortable taking such a risk over,' a fair assessment. They may have had a better idea of what the Pilgrims were generally doing compared to the Raptures, but it was not by much. Said Pilgrim could still be on Chatterbox's trail, lost it entirely, or hell, even passed it on to someone far less willing to step in during a disaster,

  That was all without factoring that during their single engagement, Chatterbox was fixated on Elen. And Anderson was no closer to figuring out why. Elen was intelligent, yes, but not a genius. She was somewhat naive when it came to political maneuvering and necessities of sometimes having to risk others. Her knowledge of how things used to be had its uses, but Elen's knowledge was also decades out of date, even before the Raptures came, which was another weird quirk.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  He even had Elen double-checked for Corruption. Anderson would admit that he could have been far more open about his intentions on that front, but there weren't many good opportunities, and he didn't want her to panic over that possibility. She had enough on her plate as was.

  There were no oddities. Well, none that suggested that Elen had been compromised by Corruption, at any rate. Ingrid had been muttering to herself, wondering how exactly Syuen's team messed up implanting NIMPH that badly. But beyond that, and the memories of someone having no history or knowledge of the Ark, there was nothing to suggest that Elen was anything more than a somewhat stronger, very weird, Model 08.

  However, part of him had to wonder what exactly happened to the original owner of the body. Where did their mind sit in this, mess? Syuen was going to have to upgrade Elen's body to an individual model eventually. Elen didn't seem to think about it much, but the odds were that the body would at least be influenced by what they used to look like.

  Which could be a mess. Depending on how, and why, the original owner became a Nikke, that could prove to be a problem. Or the new body could cause memories to bubble up from the depths, or even awaken the person who was originally there. If they were still there.

  Honestly, Anderson still wasn't sure which of the two was worse. They were in uncharted territory with this as things were right now. And he didn't like it. Though that was hardly unique at this point. He'd been at this for far too long.

  But frankly, its seeming obsession, or, at the very least, focus on Elen was enough of a case to try and pull the plug. Whatever Chatterbox wanted, he knew for a fact it wouldn't be good. And if it wanted her, then everything should be done to make sure it didn't get anywhere near her. But Syuen had taken that idea and turned it into bait. Out of all the stupid things she could do, out of all the things she could have talked the board into, she picked the worst one.

  'Still, Rapi's a former member of Absolute, Neon, while not exactly sane, is Ingrid's lady on the inside of this little operation, so she has to be capable even if I'm not seeing it. Anis seems like the most boring of the bunch, but she's from Tetra,' Anderson somewhat frowned. He didn't expect Elen and Mustang to hit it off. The two were drastically different personalities, but Elen had no problem being around energetic people. She feeds off that energy.

  But with Mustang? There was something at the back of her mind that just simply didn't trust the eccentric CEO.

  'So we do have a decent amount of firepower on our side. And if Syuen does want to try to hold failure over him, I have plenty of spicy things to show,' Anderson looked as the message came with an audio packet.

  "Yuni. Get them on their knees."

  Anderson listened the rest of the exchange, face stony. Parts would need to be cut, of course. But it was hard not to say Elen had an excellent touch. Ordering a Nikke to use their abilities on other Nikke's? That was legal, if sketchy in some instances. Ordering a Nikke to use their abilities on a human?

  Which was further punctuated by each gunshot. The pain alone would be enough to kill someone with enough shots, even if the damage didn't fully carry over. CEO's had a lot of leeway in what they could get away with, and Syuen had just about leaped over it.

  'And that's not the only thing I have.' A few more files popped up, as Anderson began to work to move the data to a more, secure residence. Still, Anderson had to grin slightly. He'd nearly gotten an apology out of the woman.

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  "You look, familiar," Neon frowned, looking at the abnormal 08. Elen, Rapi believed she had called herself. The silver-haired Nikke paused in her work.

  "You saw us yesterday," they frowned, eyes narrowing slightly. "It's not that long ago."

  Still, Neon's eyes remained locked onto the Nikke's face, before finally shrugging focusing on her work.

  "Don't mind her, she's just pissy that she can't meet up with her date tonight," Yuni said with a smirk, causing Elen to pause in her work.

  "I will use this as an improvised melee weapon, Yuni. I don't care if you look like you're ten years old. I can and will use you like a golf ball," Elen rumbled, her glare fierce enough that Rapi was a bit surprised it wasn't enough to pin Yuni to the wall right then and there. Whether her reaction was because Yuni's accusations were on the money, or if they were completely off base, Rapi wasn't sure.

  "I think they're more dysfunctional than we are," Anis whispered in Rapi's ear, as Mihara worked on keeping the two separated. Out of the three, Rapi had a good idea on just what Yuni and Mihara were about. Elen? Was a completely different story. She didn't say anything, even if her facial expression read that she wanted to do nothing more than hit Syuen. When they finally left, there seemed to be a bit of sadness on her face, as if she was sorry that she couldn't do, anything.

  But Anis was right. They were dysfunctional. She had heard of Wardress in the past, and it was clear to tell that the addition of a single someone had thrown the group out of alignment.

  Elen. She was odd. A mass-produced Nikke being assigned to a squad like this was odd, to say the least. With her personality, things began to slide a bit more into place. Only a bit. She had regained part of her sense of self, or more likely, a significant handful of it.

  "What's golf?" Neon asked, as Elen's face went through several expressions in quick order, before finally settling on elation.

  "Oh, thank fuck that stupid game is dead," she groaned, as if the news had been the only good news she had gotten in a while.

  "That doesn't answer my question," Neon gave the taller Nikke a confused look.

  "It's a dumb game that I hate and if it doesn't exist then I feel no need to reintroduce it to the world. Shit's already bad enough, the last thing I want is to give the opulent more ideas," Elen scowled, returning to whatever it was she was doing.

  "She's kinda crazy," Yuni pointed, her other hand making swirls next to her head. "Ow!" Elen had somehow managed to hit her square in the forehead with a pin of all things, setting off another round of bickering. One, that, if no less ill natured, did not seem to be ready to slip into blows.

  "Sorry. The two of them don't tend to get along," Mihara frowned, talking to them as if she was complicit in the events of yesterday. Anis glared at her, barely managing to bite her tongue.

  "Torturing people doesn't make for a good first impression Mihara, you should have learned this by now," Elen scowled.

  "Don't talk to Mihara that way you ass!" Yuni growled, the two glaring knives at the other. Mihara, at the very least, had enough dignity to look sheepish.

  Before things could escalate even further, the Commander entered, bags under his eyes and not exactly enthused about what was happening.

  "We're supposed to arrive in five minutes," sounding just as exhausted as he looked, before sitting down between Mihara and Rapi, somewhat protectively. Rapi didn't miss Elen as she raised her eyebrow slightly, abandoning the argument with Yuni entirely.

  "I still say she looks familiar," Neon whispered in Rapi's ear.

  "She's a mass-produced model, Neon," Rapi whispered back. "There are a lot of Nikke's who have that face." Neon paused for a moment before nodding, seemingly accepting the straightforward answer.

  Even if Elen's personality was unique, her face certainly wasn't, even with the cut hair. The odds they had met her before were astronomically small.

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  I scowled. Another ruined city. Humanity had been forced below ground close to a century ago. Most of this should have been reclaimed by things beyond mold.

  Still, we were out on the field. There wasn't time to screw around. 'Anything?' Mihara gestured with her hand as I closed my eyes, focusing.

  I tuned out the surrounding sounds, focusing on one thing. I almost didn't hear it, the mixture of static and binary. But I did. Faint, oh so very faint. Nearly enough to be my imagination. But I heard it.

  'Yes,' my hand moved as if I was knocking on a door. 'He is close.' I continued to sign, earning a single response from Yuni and Mihara.

  'Fuck.'